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[fqllve]

A) You aren't oppressed because no one is forcing you to buy the game. B) Those measure are a response to rampant piracy, so your solution is to pirate more? How does that make sense? C) What's shown to be most effective against DRM is fan outrage. Because companies are more concerned by the reaction of the people who actually give them money than they are with people willing to engage in activities that their poor business practices are a response to anyway. If you pirate a game because DRM the company just thinks "Ok they still want our game we just need better DRM." If you refuse to play the game at all they think "Ok no one wants our games anymore because DRM."

[jocan2003]

If you refuse to play the game at all they think "Ok no one wants our games anymore because DRM."

That will never happen. Thats the problem, and im not saying that MY answer is to pirate more, im saying the way human are programed thats what will happen, sure they dont force me buy their game, like dictator dont force them to be rebels. Pirate is a silent voice, you just need to be able to understand them, clearly you dont.

[fqllve]

A dictator does force people to live under his rules and they don't have any alternatives. Everyone is presented with an alternative if they don't like DRM. Don't buy the game.

You're also confusing thinking piracy is a poor response to anti-piracy measures with not understanding the psychology behind the phenomenon. Defend the pirates if you want, but just because it's a natural response doesn't make it a good one and doesn't mean it's not making the situation worse. Most pirates aren't some kind of DRM activists anyway, otherwise video game piracy would be significantly more common than music or movie piracy, which it's not. The main reason people pirate things is because they can't afford them.

[itisnotlogical]

To play the Satellaview "BS Zelda" games, you need:

- a Japanese Super Famicom (I don't think an American SNES will work)
- Satellaview peripheral
- Satellaview memory card with adapter and the appropriate files still downloaded (Extremely rare and expensive)
- St. GIGA subscription (Probably long discontinued by now)
- Working knowledge of the Japanese language

Finally, you need to catch multiple live broadcasts during a narrow time window for several weeks. One catch: These broadcasts were discontinued in 2001, and you can't play the games without them.

Those are the kinds of games that I pirate (modified to work without the live broadcasts of course), aside from unlicensed cartridges merely for curiosity's sake. I don't think anybody's making money from legitimate copies of Action 52, after all.

[Shadowlord]

If you refuse to play the game at all they think "Ok no one wants our games anymore because DRM."

That will never happen. Thats the problem, and im not saying that MY answer is to pirate more, im saying the way human are programed thats what will happen, sure they dont force me buy their game, like dictator dont force them to be rebels. Pirate is a silent voice, you just need to be able to understand them, clearly you dont.

On the contrary, there are a lot of companies that I simply refuse to buy PC games from because of their DRM which I refuse to allow on my computer (e.g. anything by Ubisoft, or EA), or because they make bad PC versions of their games, etc. However, I may buy their XBox games instead because they don't have any DRM besides dvd-in-drive requirements (and recently keys which come with new copies of the game to unlock on-disc content or 'free' future DLC, to discourage buying pre-owned copies, which is only an annoyance, although a substantial one in the case of EA since I would rather not give them any money at all, and buying pre-owned games is one way to ensure that a particular publisher gets none of my money).

[Criptfeind]

That just tells them that the PC is a bad platform. As if it does not have enough image issues with the large game making corporations.

[itisnotlogical]

If I really want a game from a publisher that I typically hate, I buy their games used as I did with Fight Night 2. Somebody else already spent their money, my cash is going to a non-chain game store.

[Leatra]

B) Those measure are a response to rampant piracy, so your solution is to pirate more? How does that make sense?

I don't really get what you are saying.

If piracy rate is increasing because of DRM, people will think "Hey, maybe we made a mistake." But if the piracy rate lowers they will think "Hey, this works. Let's keep going with this DRM thing."

I mean, if I was a big greedy corporate asshole that's how I would think.

[fqllve]

You're assuming that these companies can draw reasonable conclusions from the data at all. If that were they case they would have realized by now that DRM only hurts legitimate consumers and does nothing to stop piracy.

Also you're forgetting that these companies see every pirated game as a lost sale. Don't bother that it's not true, that's how they see it so they're going to respond based on that belief.

[itisnotlogical]

B) Those measure are a response to rampant piracy, so your solution is to pirate more? How does that make sense?

I don't really get what you are saying.

If piracy rate is increasing because of DRM, people will think "Hey, maybe we made a mistake." But if the piracy rate lowers they will think "Hey, this works. Let's keep going with this DRM thing."

I mean, if I was a big greedy corporate asshole that's how I would think.

Piracy --> DRM. Piracy done in protest of DRM --> More DRM. It's been escalating in this fashion for a while now, which is why it's this bad today. The publishers think "Wow, our last round of DRM really failed. We should develop stricter software, that'll really show those pirates!"

[Matz05]

Yes, that happens sometimes, but:
If sales go down --> "PIRACY! MORE DRM!"
If sales go up --> "IT'S WORKING! KEEP IT UP!"

It's a ratcheting scale. DRM will NEVER decrease on its own, regardless of market trends. External pressure is necessary for that.
The idea of piracy as protest is brinkmanship--making the situation worse for both sides to precipitate a crisis that will change the entire system.

It's a lousy plan, but it is a plan.

[Zangi]

DRM also goes hand-in-hand with the 'licencing' software scheme.  You don't own that, so you can't sell it second-hand.

The reasons behind it is not 100% Piracy, at least in the case of the big companies.

[Gamerboy4life]

B) Those measure are a response to rampant piracy, so your solution is to pirate more? How does that make sense?

I don't really get what you are saying.

If piracy rate is increasing because of DRM, people will think "Hey, maybe we made a mistake." But if the piracy rate lowers they will think "Hey, this works. Let's keep going with this DRM thing."

I mean, if I was a big greedy corporate asshole that's how I would think.

Piracy --> DRM. Piracy done in protest of DRM --> More DRM. It's been escalating in this fashion for a while now, which is why it's this bad today. The publishers think "Wow, our last round of DRM really failed. We should develop stricter software, that'll really show those pirates!"

*Snort*

I have to admit, I've pirated a few games. Every time I've done so, I had no DRM problems.

Says something about who they are truly affecting, eh?



But in all reality, these publishers aren't going to run out of money fast. Idiots rule the world, including the gaming industry, and all of this "Vote with your wallet" bullshit isn't going to help. It'll keep good developers above water, but it's not going to topple the AAA corporations that are floating on the money from 12 year old kid's (Or more correctly, their parent's,).


I don't see the point of really trying to do anything about it really, it's already a lost cause, the gaming industry is in the shitter, and will stay like this for a long, long time. The large portion of the consumer base isn't going to care about DRM's that infringe upon their rights or whatnot when they can get that sparkly new edition of Modern Zombie Warfare Spec Ops 4. People like us, (Who try to make informed decisions with our gaming money) Are such a pathetically small niche it's nearly impossible for us to get a message through to the fat cats.

That's just my pessimistic take on it, but I won't be surprised when all of these 60 dollar on-disc-DLC bullshit is going to start running rampant, just like all of these P2W free to play MMO's that require you to dish 100 bucks into the game in order to save hundreds of hours of bullshit.

[fqllve]

But in all reality, these publishers aren't going to run out of money fast. Idiots rule the world, including the gaming industry, and all of this "Vote with your wallet" bullshit isn't going to help. It'll keep good developers above water, but it's not going to topple the AAA corporations that are floating on the money from 12 year old kid's (Or more correctly, their parent's,).

It doesn't have to be a matter of making the companies go bankrupt or collapse. It's not like you have to get everyone everywhere to stop buying the games, you just need to hit them hard enough in their profits for them to reconsider. Unless you see the big publishers as somehow evil instead of what they are, which is self-interested to the point of delusion. And if you did topple the big publishers? Well there'd just be a whole fleet of new ones on their heels because that's how the industry part of the entertainment industry works.

I don't see the point of really trying to do anything about it really, it's already a lost cause, the gaming industry is in the shitter, and will stay like this for a long, long time.

I hope you enjoy all that beautiful optimism. The game industry is not in the shitter and there are still great games being produced. It bothers me that so many people seem to ignore all the good games in favor of complaining that people like Call of Duty. It's like, how dare people play a game that I find to be mediocre at best! I could make a list of games that I find to be 'pretty ok' to 'meh' and a lot of people would be appalled because it would include 98% of AAA titles, including the ones everyone loves. But I'm not gonna sit here and pretend like I'm better than the people who like those games, or that those people are ruining gaming, because it's all a matter of taste. And even if the industry were in the shitter the solution isn't to throw your hands up and say "we're fucked, we're fucked!" The solution is to buy good games and to encourage other people to buy good games.

[alexandertnt]

I hope you enjoy all that beautiful optimism. The game industry is not in the shitter and there are still great games being produced. It bothers me that so many people seem to ignore all the good games in favor of complaining that people like Call of Duty. It's like, how dare people play a game that I find to be mediocre at best! I could make a list of games that I find to be 'pretty ok' to 'meh' and a lot of people would be appalled because it would include 98% of AAA titles, including the ones everyone loves.

I pretty much agree. I am not a fan of AAA games in general, but obviously some (non-insignificant) number of people are. For something like Call of Duty, faking reviews can only get you so far given that the players have the last ~50 games with first hand experience to help them make up their mind (these players obiously like CoD, and there is nothing wrong with that).

But in all reality, these publishers aren't going to run out of money fast. Idiots rule the world, including the gaming industry, and all of this "Vote with your wallet" bullshit isn't going to help. It'll keep good developers above water, but it's not going to topple the AAA corporations that are floating on the money from 12 year old kid's (Or more correctly, their parent's,).

I don't see the point of really trying to do anything about it really, it's already a lost cause, the gaming industry is in the shitter, and will stay like this for a long, long time. The large portion of the consumer base isn't going to care about DRM's that infringe upon their rights or whatnot when they can get that sparkly new edition of Modern Zombie Warfare Spec Ops 4. People like us, (Who try to make informed decisions with our gaming money) Are such a pathetically small niche it's nearly impossible for us to get a message through to the fat cats.

The "Vote with your wallet" "bullshit" doesn't work when your in the minority. Deal with it. Its not unfair or unethical to simply be in the minority. Going on about how the majority are 12 year olds that buy 60$ on disk DLC (of which both are unfounded assertions), and how only the minority can make informed decisions (with no explanation as to why) does not make for a very convincing argument.